Tomorrow's Dreams
by Dignatio
Summary: A slave has no future, no rights, no tomorrow. Whether bleeding in the arena or in the bed of some noble, a slave can say nothing. But this slave refuses to stop dreaming of tomorrow. Eventual 1x2.


Tomorrow's Dreams 1/?

Author: Dignatio

Rating: R

Warnings: Just a bit of violence/torture. Maybe future ncs?

Author's note: This will eventually turn into a 1x2 with other pairings as well. However, this chapter is just about Heero.

Waiting for Tomorrow…………………………………

The cold, white moon cast the bars' shadows across the occupant of the cage. Black stripes of shadow hid the features, but the contrasting light illuminated golden skin and chains.

Suddenly the moonlight was blotted out and all that remained was shadow. A black figure stood in front of the cage. The chains in the cage rustled and clinked softly in the night, and a deep animal growl rumbled from within.

"Be at peace," whispered the wind while a gloved hand emerged from the black figure. "Be at peace, child."

But the chains rattled further, a dry rasping sound as the heavy metal dragged against concrete. The occupant of the cage burst forth in a release of energy. A sharp clang noted the moment hands gripped the cage bars. As the black figure took a step back in surprise, the moonlight revealed a boy, thin and dirty. His hair was wild, but his cobalt eyes, they glowed in the night. Though thick bands of iron circling his wrists and ankles held him back from reaching through the cage, the boy screamed and snarled all the while throwing himself against the chains.

_Clang!_

"Silence, child! We don't have time for this."

_Clang!_

"Enough!" With a flick of the extended hand, the wild boy was frozen. The boy's eyes widened in fear.

"I'm sorry, child, but I cannot waste time." The figure leaned forward and placed his hand through the bars and onto the boy's head.

In a voice as quiet as the night wind, he murmured, "_May the gods protect this one. May the Shadows never cling to his feet. May the bitter tears of death never flow from his body. May the Light never blind him from the truth. May I die a thousand deaths before I leave his side. May he be the One and Only for our people_."

_Crack!_ From the clear night sky, a bolt of thunder brightened the night into day. The boy in the cage collapsed unconscious to the floor.

"I love you, child. Do not lose courage. I believe in you." With that, the black figure disappeared into the shadows without a sound.

~***********~

"You there, get up!"

The boy groggily pushed himself up from the concrete cage floor. But it wasn't fast enough because—

_Crack!_

-- a thick, leather whip snapped viciously against his back. Hissing in pain, he leapt up and at the guard standing outside the open cage door.

"That's the spirit. Think you can take more?" The guard laughed as he struck his whip down on the boy again and again. Enraged, the scrawny figure struggled against the chains holding him back. He wanted to kill. He wanted to kill, kill, kill. Helpless hatred was burning through his veins.

"Catulus! Quit it. You'll ruin the merchandise like that."

The pain retreated, and the boy looked up into the face of a truly hideous man. Screeching, he pulled away and scrambled backwards.

The second man was clothed finely in a red tunic lined with black piping and a wolfskin coat. It was his face however that twisted the boy's guts. The only recognizable feature was the two eyes gleaming from behind mutilated flesh. What should have been the nose was a crudely shaped lump with two holes. The mouth was lipless and stretched out in a grimace to reveal blackened teeth. Heavy scar tissue and healed burns distorted the remaining lumps of skin.

"Like what you see, boy?" A purple spotted tongue slowly emerged from the mouth and licked around the opening.

Breathing quickly, the boy tried to get away but was cornered in his cage. The man entered the cage and approached slowly.

"What a pretty little thing you are. I wonder how much you'd fetch on the pleasure market? How much would a lady pay for a creature like you to pet?" He cackled. "Or how much would a man pay to use you?"

The boy trembled as the man got closer and closer. His head was pressed back against the cage wall as that face leaned in. He could smell the hot, fetid breath emanating from the man. Though he wanted to clench his eyes shut, he couldn't turn away.

"What do you think, pretty child?" the lips said.

At those words, the boy's eyes blinked suddenly. The spell was broken.

Snarling, he bit the lumped nose in front of him hard. Very hard.

"You little fucker!" The boy felt his head being grasped and his hair being pulled out, but he did not let go. He could taste the bitter blood in his mouth and smell it in the air. He would show them. He would show them that he wasn't some slave they could use as they pleased.

But his teeth were torn away with quite a bit of skin when the boy was slammed into the cage wall. He collapsed under a hail of kicks and fists.

"You're no pleasure slave! I'll see to it that you're sent to the dirtiest and hardest slave mines. I'll see to it that you'll die in a few months cursing your very existence! You'll pay for what you did!" screamed the man, clutching his tunic to his bloody nose. "Catulus!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Take him and give him 100 lashes with the metal serrated whip."

"But sir, market day's tomorrow. He'll still be bleeding from the lashing of that whip."

"I don't care. I want him to suffer!"

As he felt himself being pulled up and dragged from his cage, the boy cried no tears nor made a sound. He didn't know who he was or where he came from. He didn't know the difference from yesterday or the day before or the day before that, but he did know that tomorrow would be different.

The boy felt the ropes binding him tightly to the pole. He felt the sun burning onto his head and the sweat trickling into the open wounds on his body. He felt his back being exposed. He heard the crack of the whip. He heard the screams.

But his mind was elsewhere. The boy decided then and there with his cobalt eyes gazing into the cloudless sky that he would never submit. He would never give in. He would fight to the end and meet tomorrow and the day after and the day after that without fear.


End file.
